2011 Microsoft Puzzle Hunt

[jesternl]

Small edit, the airline the Ben Linus didn't like was Oceanic, not Oceania. Makes no difference in the end.

[jesternl]

here one thing I saw in the next one:
Kung (fu) Manchu,
but I don;'t see any other obvious pairs.

Sorry, spoiler tag forgotten

[Zag]

Link to the current puzzle for the new page: One Thing Leads to Another

[Suspence]

All I really have so far is FU, like jesternl. How about Lost ART Gallery or Epic FAIL Over?

Also, there are 26 words in the list, which could be a coincidence, but is more likely a clue.

32 letters in the letter string though...
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[jesternl]

Here's Some more:
Fallujah (battle) Star
Bi (curious) George
and
Chicken (egg) sandwich?

[Suspence]

Boxing [Match] Up?

I was thinking Chicken [Kiev] Ukraine
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[jesternl]

Google Buzz Kill
? mouth harp?
Slack Jaw ?

[Suspence]

Gum Drop Kick
War Lord Over, and change to Epic Fail Out

So far words are only letters A-M, each used once.
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[jesternl]

And it must be Scarlet fever, it follows the pattern, but I don't see what it goes with.
not each letter us used once though, I think that is coincidence
F is used twice and it looks like both B's are correct too

[Suspence]

We might have some wrong. I actually started thinking that the last letter of each word might need to be N-Z...fu, buzz and kiev are making me think that.

Scarlet Letter Boxing would fit with that, as would Slack Jaw ????.
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[jesternl]

that would fir with some others too, jaw, drop curious and art fit too

[Suspence]

Fallujah Iraq War works too.
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[jesternl]

OK, that gives us this so far I belive:
lost art gallery
Google buzz kill
bi curiousgeorge
gum drop kick
_____ e _____
kung fu manchu
_____ g _____
_____ h _____
Fallujah Iraq war
Slack jaw ?
chicken Kiev Ukraine
Scarlet letter boxing
Beta max out

[Suspence]

Trying to think of words that fit:

Negative Gravity?
Epic Journey?

Beta Max Out
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[jesternl]

Beta Max Out I think is correct, the others... mehh..

[jesternl]

any one else who wants to chime in, feel free

[Quailman]

Could be Slack Jaw Harp...

[Suspence]

[jesternl]

I've never heard a sub referred to as a hero sandwich, or heard of a jaw harp, so I guess overgiddy is not out of the question either..
question is...

Now what?

[jesternl]

Here is the code word for reference:

PYTRRQVYHFALFCAAOQGJQGYYJAQZGQQJ

Quite a few letters (11)from the alphabet are not used: BDEIKMNSUWX

this leads me nowhere yet, but maybe it helps someone else

[Zag]

You guys are doing great! Maybe check again what the last letter should be of the word between Over and Up?

[Suspence]

That was a dumb mistake:

Lost Art Gallery
Google Buzz Kill
Bi Curious George
Gum Drop Kick
Negative Energy Star
Kung Fu Manchu
Over Grown Up
Epic Hero Sandwich
Fallujah Iraq War
Slack Jaw Harp
Chicken Kiev Ukraine
Scarlet Letter Boxing
Beta Max Out

That would give:
PYTR RQVY HFA LFCA AOQG JQGY YJAQZGQQJ
DEAL LIKE OUT RUST THIN WINE EWTIBNIIW

Not sure what's going on at the end there.
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[bgg1996]

I got IN BETWEEN.
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The one member below 18

[bgg1996]

Thin Ice Out
Like New Deal
Rust Belt Wine

That would give:
EW TIBNIIW
IN BETWEEN
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The one member below 18

[Zag]

Oh! Suspense, jesternl, and Quailman do all the heavy lifting, and bgg, swoops in for the glory!! That's the answer.

That's just what happened to me in this next one. I did all the beginning work, and then someone else swooped in and snatched the last step.

Pace Car

[ralphmerridew]

Each is one letter from a palindrome:
1) panda had nap (paN / Cap ?)
2) ???? as a ????, ????? as a ????
3) lager, Fir, iS regal
4) wont cat ?????? ?????t act now
5) a man, a plaN, a caBal, panama
6) do Geese see a Nod
7) no ???on?, no ???on
8) ???? ?????f of ?????????
9) liveR ?? ????? ????? ?? Devil
10) daRe to vote, Dad
11) may a ????? ???? ???? a yam
12) Flee to me, remote elK
13)
14)
15) rAd rum, sir, is murdEr
16)
17) ??? at noon ta???

[Suspence]

[Suspence]

13) Must _ _ _ _ / _ _ / _ _ _ _ _ _ _ sum
14) Rome men interpret nine memoS
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[ralphmerridew]

13: musK, sell at tallesT sum

[Suspence]

16. sAx at noon taxEs
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[Suspence]

1) pAnda had nIp - AI
2) drab as a fooT, aLoof as a bard - TL
3) lager, Fir, iS regal - FS
4) wont cat lIvers revOlt act now - IO
5) a man, a plaN, a caBal, panama - NB
6) do Geese see Nod - GN
7) no leMons, no Felon - MF
8) stIr comedy by democrAts - AI
9) liveR on decaf faced no Devil - RD
10) risK to votE, sir - KE
11) may a moLdy baby dOom a yam - LO
12) Flee to me, remote elK - FK
13) musK, sell at tallesT sum - KT
14) go Hang a salami, i'm a lasagna Cog
15) rAd rum, sir, is murdEr - AE
16) Rome men interpret nine memoS - RS
17) sAx at noon taxEs - AE

Correct letters - Incorrect letters
a - i
l - t
s - f
o - i
n - b
g - n
m - f
a - i
d - r
e - k
o - l
f - k
t - k
h - c
e - a
s - r
e - a

Promising, but once again, I'm not sure where to go from here.
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[Zag]

There are 17, not 16. Check your last 4.

[Suspence]

Another dumb mistake...if I could only do the simple stuff.

The answer is BOB. Kept reading it as "Also", but realized it was "Al Song" referring to Wierd Al.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg
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[Zag]

I was stuck thinking it starts "Al's on ..." But I was missing a couple of them -- key ones, it turned out.

Next one: Sam Loves "T"

[Suspence]

I'd never heard the song before, but I really liked it.

For the next one:

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[ralphmerridew]

Taking "O" as dot and "I" as dash:
1: ..- U
2: .-. R
3: nothing
4: - T
5: - T
6: -- M
7: .. I
8: nothing
9: -- M
10: - T
11: ... S
12: ..- U
13: . E
14: - T
15: nothing
16: -.- K
17: - T

[Suspence]

Not getting anywhere with that. The title is "Sam loves T" and there sure are a lot of T's. Other than that, I see an anagram of "museum" and not much else.
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[ralphmerridew]

How about "t" (and maybe "f") are dash; "i" (and maybe "j") are dot?
1:ttti
2: it
3: ttt
4: tti
5: i
6: ii
7: (none)
8: (none)
9: tit
10: t
11: ttit
12: tt
13: ti
14: t
16: iit
17: ti

(skipped a column somewhere; didn't notice until fairly late on; it's not necessarily 15.)

[Zag]

All you guys (except Suspense) are missing something critical because you are relying on Suspense's solution to the crossword. I can't say why Suspense is missing it, other than, perhaps, forgetfulness.

[Suspence]

Forgetfulness, probably. You must be referring to a few of the clues. When I solved the crossword, these clues were obviously not very helpful, so I solved only by the Across words and didn't give these much thought.

1 Down - ■, 9, 11, ■, 12, 14 (Solution: DOT)
67 Down - 3, 7, 10, 13, 15 (Solution: SLASH)
73 Down - 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 (Solution: DASH)

I did notice at the time that these solutions were related to Morse, as was "45 Across - Instructions" (Solution - ENTERMORSECOLUMNS). They still don't help me any, but they might help someone else.

These puzzles have taught me that I'm fairly good at solving things when I know what I'm supposed to do, and fairly crappy at actually making that first leap and figuring out what to do.
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